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Authorship:
Bridie Schultz, The Australian Citizen Science Association
Astra Sang Yum, Sativus Pty Ltd
Kylie Hewson, Sativus Pty Ltd
Matthew Grace, The Australian Citizen Science Association
Romane H. Cristescu, Detection Dogs for Conservation, School of Science, Technology, and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs QLD, 4556, Australia (ORCID: Bridie Schultz 0000-0001-9524-702X; Romane H. Cristescu 0000-0001-7071-5245)
Introduction
Citizen science projects involve everyday people engaging in the collection and analysis of scientific data to collaborate with, and help, scientists with their research projects to understand the world better and create solutions to real world challenges. Citizen science was created to develop partnerships between local communities and scientific research that benefits both (1) to undertake projects that are for the educational benefit of the community, the research, or both (2).
Unlike traditional methods, citizen science is people-centred, allowing individuals to actively engage with and contribute to scientific efforts. As a result, citizen science provides continuous data collection and current data, empowering communities to track and address issues at a local level while contributing to broader, global datasets. This form of collaboration is already yielding new insights in diverse fields, such as food and agriculture, city monitoring, biodiversity, and pollution, and can be more resilient to political change.
In the face of global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation, community action is integral to driving the collection of new, real-time data. While traditional data collection methods often face limitations in terms of accessibility, frequency, and geographic coverage, citizen science offers a powerful alternative.
Citizen Science and the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) 17 Sustainable
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